Delta Force

About Delta Force

Delta Force (1998) is NovaLogic's tactical first-person shooter, loosely based on the US Army special operations unit, whose voxel terrain allowed long-range outdoor firefights few shooters could match.

Delta Force in Depth

Designed as a military simulation, it casts the player as a Delta Force operator, male or female, with a choice of faces, in operations across five campaigns in Peru, Chad, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Novaya Zemlya. All five campaigns are open from the start, and completing missions unlocks more, sometimes several at once, for 40 missions in all. Objectives include wiping out hostile forces in an area, assassinating high-profile targets, destroying military equipment and escorting prisoners of war or civilians to extraction, often followed by reaching an extraction point. Enemy positions vary between play-throughs, and higher difficulties make the AI aim better, find the player faster and move in small groups that give each other covering fire.

Before each mission the player can freely change the default loadout across three slots: a main weapon, extra equipment and a sidearm. Unlike most shooters of the time, bullets are real objects with simulated ballistics, dropping and taking time to travel, so distant targets must be led. Optional ammunition and medical pickups are scattered across maps, though health is not shown on the HUD. Multiplayer over LAN or online supports up to 32 players, with every campaign mission playable co-operatively, human players replacing the AI operatives, alongside deathmatch, king of the hill and capture the flag, plus team versions of each.

Making Delta Force

NovaLogic built it on its proprietary Voxel Space engine, which drew terrain with voxels and characters, vehicles and buildings with polygons, giving draw distances and terrain detail unseen in shooters of the time, at the cost of no 3D acceleration. Released for Windows in October 1998, it was a critical and commercial success. GameSpot called it "a very impressive game overall", praising its missions and sound but noting dated visuals and fewer planning options than Rainbow Six, PC Gamer called it "a surprising and welcome addition to the genre", and Next Generation found its solo play often uninspired but its multiplayer "one of the most satisfying gaming experiences available today". Delta Force 2 followed in 1999, and later Black Hawk Down in 2003.